Sony building Android 3.0-based PSP smartphone?

All that clamor about the PSP being "just" a single-function device may have sunk in. Engadget has it on good authority that Sony Ericsson is preparing an Android 3.0-based gaming smartphone described as a mix between the Samsung Captivate and the PSP Go. A "trusted source" tells the site that the company is toiling away on a landscape slider with game controls instead of a hardware keyboard.

The slider contains a standard D-pad but opts for some kind of touch pad instead of a joystick, and there's also word of shoulder buttons. It carries a large 3.7 to 4.1-inch display, a 5-megapixel camera and it's powered by a 1GHz Snapdragon processor. Color-wise, you can expect something that's mostly black with silver or white accents. Engadget has a rough mockup seen below.

As noted, it runs Android 3.0, codenamed Gingerbread, with a custom skin. Games will be on par with PSP titles (Modern Warfare and God of War were mentioned) and downloaded from a new Android Market section, which might be open to other handsets that meet the requirements. Early speculation says the phone will be unveiled as early as October, but nothing is official at this point.